Art Zippel, User Experience Analyst & Strategist

714.357.7578

What is User Experience (UX) to me?

Short Answer

Passion, it’s why I don’t need coffee.

Medium Answer

It’s how I deal with the competitive nature that I have with myself. It’s my avenue for creative problem solving. When it comes to my outlook on life and UX, I try to experience what I have to the fullest while actively working to make it better.

Long Answer

UX happens regardless. There is no such thing as “no” user experience. Today's experience has a casual effect on a users behavior for tomorrow. When we interact with anything, we have an experience. What we experience can almost be limitless. For me an important aspect is “How much do you want to control the experience others have with you or your product”. I think controlling the UX is a “gray area” and is influenced by a wide range of variables. Context, intent, and expectation are all huge when it comes to UX. Also, people are a slippery slope – what they expect and want can change over time as they experience you or your product. Another experience variable is that with each successive experience, it becomes harder to change a users perception of you or your product.

I believe Sir Isaac Newton understood the principle of UX when he said “Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it”. Which I take to mean unless you change something whatever experience the user started with is likely to continue be it positive or negative. Will Rogers also understood UX when he said, “You never get a second chance to make a first good impression”. Which I interpret as, the first impression is the easiest one to make a good impression with.

UX to me is the blood that runs through my veins. It’s how I experience myself and my environment. It’s how I buy books on Amazon, search with Google, buy gas for my car and how as a bicyclist I avoid motorists. 12 years of professionally practicing UX has provided me with impressive skills, interesting experiences, and a sense of awe concerning how amazing people are. I suspect without UX I would be terribly, terribly bored.